Jacob Orellana won the 2018 Canadian Futsal Player of the Year award after an excellent year with the both national team and his club Toronto Idolo Futsal. He represented Canada in a pair of international matches against Costa Rica in January and then helped his club win the 2018 Futsal Canadian Championship in April.

“Jacob earned this award for his hard work and dedication to Canada Soccer’s National Futsal Program and to the sport of futsal,” said Kyt Selaidopoulos, Canada Soccer’s National Futsal Head Coach. “He is one of the most exciting players to watch and we expect him to became a leader of this program in the future. He also led his team to the 2018 Futsal Canadian Championship.”

Damien Wojtiw won the 2018 Canadian Para Soccer Player of the Year award after a stellar year with the national program, including a Golden Gloves performance at the 2018 Copa América IFCPF 2018 Ecuador. Wojtiw was in goal for all seven of Canada’s international matches in 2018, including a 2:0 victory over Australia in July.

“Damien stepped up on and off the field for Canada in 2018, especially when we were missing some of our key players in Ecuador,” said Drew Ferguson, Canada Soccer’s Para Soccer Head Coach. “Off the field he played a huge role with helping the younger players understand what to do away from the field; on the field, he made a handful of incredible saves at the Copa América and won the Golden Gloves Award.”

2018 Canada Soccer Player AwardsThis marks the 26th edition of the Canada Soccer Player Awards, with Orellana the second Futsal winner and Wojtiw the sixth Para Soccer winner. In the coming week, Canada Soccer will unveil the 2018 Canadian Youth International Players of the Year on 10 December and the 2018 Canadian Players of the Year on 11 and 12 December.

Already this week, James Pantemis has been named the 2018 winner of the Allstate Canadian National Teams Good Hands Award.

Following the Canada Soccer Player of the Year Awards, the 2018 Canada Soccer Moment of the Year fan voting will run from 17 to 30 December across Canada Soccer's digital channels. Fans will have the opportunity to choose from a top-10 list of moments over the past 12 months. Throughout the holiday period, fans can follow as the top moments are featured on Canada Soccer’s digital channels: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. From there, they can vote for their favourite moment on CanadaSoccer.com.

Fans who register with their vote will be eligible for #CanadaRED prize packs, to be distributed ahead of the announcement of the 2018 Canada Soccer Moment of the Year on 7 January 2019.